After Lady Knight
by Caremel
Summary: KelDom A continuation after Lady Knight...with some romance at Buri and Raoul's wedding. It was meant to be continued, but now it's a one-shot. Enjoy!


A/N: Hey, this is my first fic. I hope you like it! It would be awfully sweet if you reviewed…It would make my day! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 1- The Kiss

Tortall's second lady knight, Keladry of Mindelan, gazed at Fort Steadfast on the horizon and sighed. Nearby, Nealan of Queenscove let out a whoop of excitement and spurred his horse onward. His eagerness to see his betrothed, Yukimi noh Daimoru, had forced the group to ride ceaselessly throughout their journey and the nearness of his goal was causing his sudden acceleration. Kel grinned and rode up to catch him, her servant Tobe trailing close behind.

"Neal! Wait up," Kel called. "We don't have to rush you know."

"You don't have a betrothed waiting for you," Neal said mournfully, a dreamy look coming into his eyes, "Just you wait until every moment is an eternity, every hour a lifetime, even a second unbearable, until you see your love again." Kel rolled her eyes at her friend's poetic words and hit him gently on the arm, "Shut up, Meathead."

Neal rubbed his arm and looked at her reproachfully. "Meathead? Meathead! How could you refer to your companion in arms with such a prosaic and disrespectful name? Where is your honor, your chivalry…?"

Neal drifted off into a heated monologue about the name "Meathead" and its meanings and implications. None of which, he stated most emphatically, applied to him.

_At_ _least he isn't sighing about Yuki anymore_, Kel thought to herself, ignoring Neal and his pedantic speech, instead reflecting on the things she would have to do when she returned to New Hope.

As they neared the fort, Neal quickened his pace. Kel followed in a more stately fashion, greeting the guards stationed at the gate. She entered the fort just in time to see Neal leap off his horse in an attempt to reach his beloved Yuki as soon as possible

However, he caught his foot in one of the stirrups and tumbled to the ground. She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

Tobe, who had ridden up beside Kel on his piebald mare, started sniggering as Neal picked himself up. Muttering curses under his breath, the healer rushed inside to see Yuki.

Neal's gelding looked offended at Neal's lack of consideration for him so Kel sent Tobe to take care of the horses.

"Just like our Meathead, eh?" Kel smiled at the familiar voice, and turned to see the eyes of a certain sergeant of the King's Own her stomach fluttering. "Dom! How have you been?"

"Fine, fine. Nothing to speak of. How have you been, Protector of the Small?"

Kel glared. "Protector of the Small, indeed! If I hear that name from your lips one more time you will _need _protection. Sadly, you do not exactly fit under the category of 'small', therefore you will get none from me," Kel said, looking purposefully _up_ at his 6-foot, one inch frame. Dom frowned penitently although his eyes twinkled. "I shall never such a thing again milady," he said as they entered the living quarters, walking towards Kel's room.

Kel gave him a light punch on the arm. "You get more and more like Neal every day, Dom."

"That Meathead!" Dom looked shocked, "At least I have never made a fool of myself by falling off my horse trying to reach my lady love."

They both laughed at the thought of Neal sprawled on the ground cursing as they walked down the hallway to where Kel's room was situated "Poor Meathead," Kel said soberly, "he's been fretting so much about getting here to see Yuki, it's a sore let down to arrive so inelegantly."

Dom laughed, causing prickles to go up Kel's spine. _Stop it, _she said to herself._ We're just friends._

"So," Kel said, trying to suppress all thoughts of Dom that were anything other than strictly professional, "How is Lord Raoul holding up?"

"As well as one can hope for one who hates all social functions and must himself be the center of one."

"Poor man," Kel said, grinning. They had reached the door of her room. "I guess I'd better get settled in."

"Of course," Dom said smiling, "See you tonight."

Dom wandered off down the hallway, whistling a bawdy drinking song and Kel turned back to her door. Kel turned her key in its lock. Opening the door, she saw that Tobe had already unpacked her things, and put everything carefully in its place. Kel barely resisted the urge to lie down immediately on the bed in her travel stained clothes.

She smiled when she saw that some hot water had been brought up for a bath. She prepared her bath and stripped off her clothes. As she stepped into it, she took pleasure in the first good soak since she had left New Hope. Kel closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm water, refreshing after being in the saddle all day.

As the water cooled, Kel got out and dried herself, wrapping a towel around her body. She had ordered some dresses from Lalasa, one for the wedding and a few others for everyday wear.

Kel had had Lalasa send them directly to Fort Steadfast from Corus. She opened the package and chose a primrose colored one to wear to dinner, smiling as it fit perfectly and recalling when she had worn dresses as a page to remind the others that she was female.

_Not that they ever forgot_, she thought. As she brushed her hair in front of the small glass, she thought back to the last time she had worn a dress. _When I was a squire? With Cleon? Yes, perhaps that was it,_ she thought.

Kel admired the other dresses Lalasa had sent: a formal one, mossy green with pearls sewn in around the neckline, the one Kel was to wear to the wedding. The other gown was a crimson one in thick velvet. Kel dearly hoped that there would be enough peacetime in the near future for her to be able to wear her purchases.

Kel fastened on a pin in the shape of an owl with topaz eyes, a gift from her mother from last midwinter. A little time to relax at Steadfast was very welcome, work at New Hope not being precisely the easiest.

She was glad that Raoul and Buri were getting married; they were perfect for each other. She smiled as she thought of how she had suggested Raoul ask Buri to come to his great aunt's party to protect him from the matchmaking mothers. _I_ _was a bit like a matchmaking mother myself,_ she thought, _and I was quite successful, if I do say so myself. __Will I ever meet someone who will suit me so well?_

A knock on the door interrupted Kel's thoughts. "Protector of the Small? Are you in there?" A familiar voice called.

"Dom! I told you not to call me that," Kel said, opening the door.

"Well, I knew that would draw you out of your reverie enough to come to the mess hall for dinner."

"Dinner! I'd completely lost track of the time."

"Too busy dolling yourself up, eh?" Dom said, indicating Kel's dress, "I knew that even lady knights like dressing up."

"Lady Alanna wears dresses AND earbobs. Why shouldn't I?"

"No one can say that it isn't flattering on you, Kel," Dom said, running an appraising eye down her outfit. Kel blushed as Dom looked at her, "Why haven't you graced us with your presence in this apparel before?"

"I've been busy," Kel said, "You don't get much of a chance to wear dresses as commander of a refugee camp and I couldn't exactly wear them on our little Scanran escapade, could I? Anyway, I am certain you have seen me in a dress before. I'm sure I wore them sometimes as a squire."

"I haven't in fact, I would remember, but I recall Meathead writing to me and telling me how you would wear dresses to dinner to remind them that you were a girl."

"Neal told you about that? There must have been a dearth of other topics to talk about."

Dom smiled. "You have always been very interesting, Protector of the Small."

In the awkward silence that followed, Kel debated with herself whether to remind him not to call her by the ridiculous name or not. She suspected that it would be more effective if she ignored it. Suddenly, she recalled the reason Dom had come to her room to begin with, "Dom? Isn't it time for dinner?"

Dom started, obviously caught up in his thoughts. He remembered his manners and bowed deeply, putting on a particularly pompous face. "Well then, Lady Knight, would you be so kind as to accompany me to our place of repast before the evening meal commences?"

Kel hid her smile behind dancing eyes. "I would be delighted to dear sir."

They grinned at each other and once again Kel felt a fluttering in her stomach as they set off down the corridor to the mess hall. She recalled what he had said earlier, thinking, _Me? Interesting?_

Dom broke into her thoughts by lightly touching the brooch on her dress. "A Mindelan owl? I got to know these little guys pretty well from making that flag of yours for Haven." Kel flinched a little at the word "Haven" but continued calmly, saying, "I never really thanked you for that. Thanks."

"You're welcome." _Still touchy about Haven I see_, Dom thought. _Poor Kel_.

"You didn't actually do any of that yourself, did you? The embroidery?"

Dom smiled broadly. "I did too do some of it myself. I helped with one whole glaive myself, thank you very much."

Kel laughed and said, "You're probably better at sewing than I am, then. I know Raoul is."

They turned the corner into the mess hall. Kel was almost knocked over by the whirring Yamani who hugged her tightly. Yukimi noh Daimoru, called Yuki, was one of Kel's oldest friends. "I see you've quite lost your Yamani ways, Yuki," Kel said as they embraced, "I hope you still know your glaive and shukusen."

Yuki laughed. "It's so good to see you! How is New Hope? I hope Neal has behaved himself."

"New Hope is doing well. The harvest has just been gathered and fortunately, it seems that it shall do for the winter. Neal was as good as he could be, considering that he is Neal. How are my parents and Shinko and everyone else back at court?"

"They're all fine. Shinko and Prince Roald are blissfully happy, now that they are married. Their wedding was lovely, with both the Conté and Yamani royal colors. It's too bad you couldn't be there," Yuki said.

"Ah, well, somebody has to do the hard work around here." Kel smiled. "Speaking of weddings, have you decided when you and Neal are going to be married?"

Yuki smiled happily. "I have talked to Neal's mother, my future mother-in-law, and we have decided to have it here in a month. I'm afraid I haven't shared this news with Neal yet, but I hope it shall be a nice surprise for him."

The two women looked over at Neal, who had just appeared and was busy greeting his cousin enthusiastically. "I'm sure he will be delighted," Kel reassured her confidingly.

Nearby, Kel saw the cousins talking as she walked with Yuki over to one of the long tables where Raoul and Buri were sitting with Alanna the Lioness and the royal couple. Kel congratulated the couple and greeted the Lioness and their majesties.

"Sit down," Buri said, indicating some seats across from her, "There's plenty of room."

Kel and Yuki sat down as Neal and Dom joined them. Neal sat next to Yuki and Dom grabbed the chair next to Kel. Lord Wyldon also sat down at their table, near the king. They launched into a discussion of the war and Maggur's strategy.

Although Kel had destroyed the killing devices, the war continued to drag on though Maggur's forces were diminished.

The king, queen and Buri were soon engrossed in straightening out any last minute wedding plans for the next evening. Yuki and Kel discussed with Alanna about the possibility of glaive lessons while Kel was at Steadfast, and the differences between sword and glaive fighting.

As the evening wore on, Kel got increasingly tired but she stayed anyway, unable to pull herself from all the interesting conversations going on around her. Neal and Yuki left, as did the king and queen, but Dom, Raoul and Alanna stayed, talking about the Kings' Own and the possibility of the Lioness riding with them in the future.

Raoul hinted that he had some plan for the Own, but he also said that he wouldn't reveal it until after the wedding, so no one could get a peep out of him about it.

A few members of the King's Own joined them at the tables and shared their latest news. They had also brought out some chessboards, so matches were set up.

Alanna and Dom started to play fiercely while Raoul challenged Wolset. Several other members of the King's Own played, but as there were an odd number of people, Kel decided to sit out. She chose instead to watch the game between her idol and Dom.

Kel cheered both on indiscriminately, though each of them tried to coax her to support them alone.

The candles burnt down as the moon rose. The match was close and as the opponents got more serious, Kel's tiredness began to overtake her. She could no longer keep her eyes open.

Yawning, exhausted from the day's hard journey, Kel couldn't even think of going to her room. Her head drooped and she leant it on the nearest shoulder: Dom's.

Dom looked around, but seeing Kel, he said nothing. As though it was a perfectly natural development, Dom put his arm around Kel and kept it there as she breathed softly in her sleep.

Alanna smothered a smile. She looked at Raoul, but he was concentrating on his next move. Dom's concentration was wavering and soon Alanna said, "Checkmate."

Dom swore good-humoredly at his defeat, but Alanna could see his mind was on a different lady knight. The lioness snickered softly as she rose from the table murmuring, "What are you going to do with her, Dom?"

He looked vaguely perplexed. "I'm not quite sure. I guess I should bring her up to her room."

Dom lifted up the tall lady knight easily, cradling her in his arms. Alanna waited for Raoul, as he had just won his game as well. "I guess we oldies still have a few tricks to pull on the younger generation, Alanna," Raoul said, grinning.

"I don't know why you're grouping me with you. I'm several years your junior," Alanna said jokingly, "Anyway, I think it could have gone either way. It would have if my opponent hadn't been 'distracted.'"

Dom's faced flushed a slight pink, but Raoul had already set off for his rooms calling, 'good night' and missing the last part of what Alanna said.

Everyone finally split up and went their separate ways, and Dom headed towards Kel's room to put her to bed. _It's lucky I went to her room before_, he thought, _or I'd have to ask someone. Who knows what they might have thought_

Dom soon reached Kel's room. Finding her key in a pouch that hung around her waist he slipped it into the lock, quietly opening her door. Dom laid her softly on the bed. He regarded Kel's peaceful face quietly for a few minutes before looking from side to side furtively. Swiftly bending down, he kissed her gently on the lips, whispering, "Sweet dreams, Kel."

He then exited quickly, closing the door quietly behind him. Unnoticed by Dom, however, there was a silent observer to these proceedings.

Tobe had drifted off waiting for Kel to come back, but was awakened when Dom carried Kel into the room. He reflected on the entire occurrence thoroughly while he shook Kel awake. She looked woozily around as Tobe hissed, "Milady! Milady! You must change into your night things!"

Kel nodded slowly and Tobe retired to his adjoining room. She hung up her dress carefully and changed into her nightshirt in a dreamlike state, finally falling onto her bed with extreme exhaustion.

Dropping off, she thought, _I could have sworn I dreamt that Dom kissed me__…_

Now, that wasn't that bad, was it? If so, review. If not, review. Just REVIEW! Thanks.

Caremel


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